The Hagen Living World Vision Bird Cage in double height is the same footprint as the medium single-height cage with twice the vertical space and four perches instead of two -- room for a pair of small birds, or for a bird that climbs rather than flies across.

Key Features

• No Drawer To Fight With: The cage lifts off the base, and the base empties straight into the bin
• Deep Base: Takes loose litter rather than just paper, and raised ridges underneath keep air moving to discourage mildew
• Cups Reached From Outside: Seed and water are refilled without opening the cage, which matters with a nervous bird and matters more with one that bolts for the door
• Multi-Grip Perches: Shaped with varying thickness rather than a single round diameter, which spreads where the weight falls on the foot
• Five Minute Assembly: Click-snap construction, no tools
• Size: 62.5 x 39.5 x 87 cm
• What Is Included: Two waste shields, two cups for seed and water, and four perches

What Makes A Vision Cage Different

Hagen's Vision range dropped the pull-out drawer that every other cage has. Instead the wire cage lifts off the base, so the whole base can be carried to the bin and tipped out. It sounds like a small thing and it is the reason people buy them twice: the drawer is the part of a conventional cage that jams, scatters seed down the side and never quite comes out when a bird is standing on it.

Choosing A Cage Size

Buy the biggest cage the space takes, and judge it by width rather than height -- most cage birds fly across, not up. Bar spacing matters as much as the overall size: too wide and a small bird gets its head through, too narrow and a bigger beak cannot grip to climb. Whatever the cage, it is a base rather than a home. Daily time out of it in a safe closed room is what keeps a bird fit and sane.

Where To Put It

• Against a wall rather than in the middle of a room, and not in front of a window all day -- a bird with no solid side to retreat to never fully settles.
• Out of draughts and away from direct sun, radiators and air conditioning outlets.
• Never in or next to the kitchen. Overheated non-stick pans give off fumes that kill birds quickly, and scented candles, aerosols and plug-in air fresheners are all a risk in a bird room.
• At roughly chest height. A cage on the floor leaves a bird feeling exposed.

Who Makes It

Living World is the small animal and bird brand of Rolf C. Hagen, the Montreal company founded in 1955. The range covers cages, hay feeders, houses, dishes and supplements for rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and cage birds.

Good To Know

• Line the base with newspaper under the litter and the whole lot lifts out in one go.
• Change paper and litter daily. Droppings are the quickest guide to a bird's health, and you only notice a change if you look at them fresh.
• Perches are the part worth upgrading first. A few natural wood branches of different thicknesses alongside the supplied perches does more for a bird's feet than anything else you can add.
• Do not use a mite or insect spray inside a cage with the bird in it, and keep aerosols out of the room altogether.
• Extra height suits climbing birds -- cockatiels, lovebirds, small parrots. For budgies and canaries, width is worth more than height, so compare this against the large single-height cage before deciding.
• Set perches at different heights but not directly above one another, or the lower one spends its life underneath the upper bird.